Projects, projects everywhere

Projects pile up around me, calling my name and vying for my attention. I've been kindly answering their pleas for attention this past week and conquering some of my to-do list.

Just a random picture I love of Matthew.

We originally bought our little farm house from some people who were chain smokers, so we had to cover all surfaces liberally with Kilz primer in order to block the nicotine stains and noxious reek. It made the ceilings and walls look a dirty, dingy grey color. Well, I finally painted the children's rooms and made them look cheerful and welcoming.

Hopefully I'll remember to post pictures soon of their bedroom transformations. I've been waiting for my sewing machine to arrive in the mail (my last one was dropped during our move and was shattered inside....how disappointing!) so I can sew curtains before taking pictures of the final product.

I particularly love Sarah's room: it's like a fairy tale garden full of flowers, dragonflies and butterflies. It's absolutely magical. She asked me to paint a couple of paintings to hang in there. The canvases will host a fairy tea party and butterfly garden.....whenever I get around to actually making them. I've been working on the concept sketches and they are looktojtiood. I'll give a picture tour of her room soon. (Let's go ahead and add that task to my growing list of projects! Who knows when it will be done?)

I've been brushing up again on my body art skills since I took a leave of absence during my difficult pregnancy and postpartum baby-stage. (What a great pun! Did you catch it?) Diego is old enough to eat cereals and other solids, so I left him for TEN HOURS (yikes!) last weekend while I worked my first festival of the year. I've agreed to work this monthly festival for the rest of the year....so I'm really excited about this prospect of regular gigs again. I really enjoyed getting back into my artistic groove, so to speak, and interacting with so many families.

The next project will be a biggie. I purchased some AMAZING wooden frames for a steal last week. (They are the extremely ornately-carved and gold-leafed type of frames you find in museums or churches. Nice!) I always look for frames at thrift stores (buying frames new is just too expensive for me, so I have 6 paintings sitting unframed on my bookcases). Occasionally I find a fantastic frame I can use, so I take it home and remove whatever ugly picture it originally held (and was usually the sole reason why it was sent to the thrift store in the first place) and frame my own art for almost free. SO, I found two heirloom-quality frames for only $25 last week. I literally salivated just looktojtat these beauties. So I bought them. The only problem is that none of my finished paintings are quite big enough to use in these frames......so I'm planning on another painting. And it will have to be huge.

I purchased more tree swings for our property. I can't help myself. I want to have trees dangling all over the property, calling little children to come play. Have I mentioned enough times how much I adore tree swings? My heart feels so full of peace and quiet happiness each time I watch my children swing under the arms of an old oak tree. This is what life is meant to be like.

Now I have the project of actually hanging those swings. Where's my Boy Scout when I need him?